Chapter 11: The First Rune

The rune glowed but dimmed instantly. Alfred didn’t understand, he followed the instructions step by step, but the rune still didn’t do anything. Alfred was beginning to believe that the parchment was faked. Shaman Catori has a low expectation but was still disappointed, she asked Alfred if he can explain to her the instruction

Alfred agreed and explained to Shaman Catori how to make a rune formation. When Shaman Catori heard the explanation, she became silent, then thought deeply. After a few seconds, Shaman Catori finally spoke.

“I also believe you follow every step on how to make rune. How about we try it again, but this time add the formation. The formation is there for a reason.”

“Ok let us try it again, but let me absorb Life Energy first, my energy was almost depleted by just writing one rune.” Alfred agreed.

After an hour, Alfred was finally back at his full Energy. Alfred tried to write a rune again, but this time he would add the formation. First, he drew a circle as big as a human head. After that, he drew a smaller circle inside the first circle, then wrote the word Area of Effect using the runic symbol in between the circles.

After that, Alfred took a deep breath to calm himself down. When Alfred was composed enough, he focused all his attention, then finally start writing the Fire Rune. Alfred felt the Life Energy was being absorbed by the Rune again, but this time only half of his energy was drained.

Alfred didn’t understand why only half of his Life Energy has been absorbed, but he set this topic aside for now. Alfred stared at the finished rune, then looked at Shaman Catori. When shaman Catori nodded at him, he nervously dropped another monster blood to the Rune. After the drop of monster blood hit the rune, the rune glowed, and suddenly, a very tiny fire appeared but instantly disappeared. When Alfred and Shaman Catori saw this, they both became excited.

They finally proved that the parchment was genuine, even though the fire was very small, that didn’t matter, what mattered was the rune worked. Alfred and Shaman Catori looked at each other, they both saw the excitement in each other’s eyes. Shaman Catori wanted to see more so she instructed Alfred to pour all the monster blood on the rune.

Alfred also has the same idea, when Shaman Catori instructed him, he didn’t hesitate even a second and poured all the remaining monster blood on the Rune. After the monster’s blood was poured, the Rune glowed, then a small fire bigger than the last time appeared. The fire lasted for a minute before it disappeared. Alfred and Shaman Catori both examined the fire before it disappeared.

They both understand that the fire was the real thing, and not some kind of illusion. When they walked closer to the fire, they felt the heat coming from it, they even tried to burn some things to make sure. Alfred was a little disappointed.

“The only problem is the source of energy. We poured all the contents of the waterskin, but we only produce a small fire. Then if we need a bigger fire, we need a lot of monster blood.”

“Not necessarily, based on your explanation what we need is the Life Energy in the blood, not the blood itself. The blood we used was harvested seven days ago, which means the life energy within that blood was almost already dissipated.” Shaman Catori replied.

When Alfred heard this, his eyes brightened, then he realized something.

“If we use the blood of a monster that recently died, the Life Energy inside its blood will still be rich.”

“That is right, we should wait for the Arrows to come back, you should rest for now. The Arrows should return tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.” Shaman Catori replied.

“Arrows?”

“Ahh, did Aponi not tell you? We call the hunters of this tribe Arrows. I should go now, rest, we will discuss more tomorrow.”

After shaman Catori left, Alfred lie on the ground covered with monster fur. Alfred relaxed, he just closed his eyes for a bit, then immediately fell asleep since his body and mind were so tired because of the accumulated stress.

====

After shaman Catori left Alfred’s tent, she immediately went to Chief Viren’s shelter, then ordered a tribesman to call Elder Ahote. When the three Elders were finally facing each other, Chief Viren asked Shaman Catori.

“Tell us what is this meeting for?”

“The parchment is genuine.” Shaman Catori replied.

Both Elder Ahote and Chief Viren raised their eyebrows.

“What do you mean?” Chief Viren asked.

“The rune that we talked about before, it works!” Shaman Catori replied with excitement.

“You mean the Rune that can summon a fire out of thin air?! Elder Ahote exclaimed.

When Chief Viren heard elder Ahote’s question he also got stunned.

“Is that really true?!”

“It is true, we tried it a while ago and it works! A fire really appeared out of thin air! I saw it with my own two eyes, and we even burn some things just to be sure.” Shaman Catori replied to both elders excitedly.

When chief Viren heard this, he also became excited, but he forcefully calmed himself down.

“We need to calm down. If Shaman Catori said is true, then this Rune will be a big help to our tribe. No, not just a big help, this Rune might be the solution to our tribe’s problem. Therefore, we need to carefully think about how we should handle this.”

When Shaman Catori and Elder Ahote heard Chief Viren they both started to calm down.

“What should we do?” Elder Ahote asked.

“We should convince young Alfred to join our tribe.” Chief Viren Replied.

“What if he declines?” Shaman Catori asked Chief Viren.

“Then at least make him teach us the ancient language, so we can make our own Rune.”.

“You know how valuable the Rune is. What if he also declines that?”

“Then I have no choice but to force him to do so.”

Elder Ahote furrowed his eyebrows.

“What do you mean by force? How are you going to force him exactly?”

Chief Viren looked at elder Ahote straight in the eye.

“You already know what I mean.”

Elder Ahote stood up and yelled.

“You mean torture?! You are going to torture that young man just to get what you want?! If we do that, how are we different from those hateful Blood Tribe?!”

“Why do you think I want to convince him first to join our tribe? Because I do not want to do that. I am the Chieftain of this tribe, and if it is about the survival of our tribe, I will do anything. My answer is yes, I will torture the young man if it means for the survival of our tribe.” Chief Viren replied with anger in his voice.

Elder Ahote and Chief Viren stared at each other with clear anger in their eyes. When Shaman Catori saw that the two are not stopping, she calmly said.

“Both of you get a hold of yourself. We are here to discuss the solution to our tribe’s predicament and not to argue with each other. Elder Ahotesit down and relax.”

After hearing that both Elders calm down.

“You are right Shaman Catori this is not time to argue. I apologize for my action Chief Viren.” Elder Ahote apologize.

“No, you do not have to apologize I understand your feelings, I also feel disgusted by just hearing the word torture, but I must harden myself for the tribe.” Chief Viren replied.

When Elder Ahote and Chief Viren stopped talking, Shaman Catori spoke up.

“I think we do not need to worry because I believe young Alfred will join our tribe.”

“Why do you think so?” Chief Viren asked.

“Because if you think about the situation of young Alfred, you will understand that he has nowhere to go. When the Arrows found him in the forest, he was alone and there was no other body around. Which means he is traveling alone.

If he was traveling alone while holding something important like the parchment, it only means that it is either his tribe is already gone and that parchment is some kind of legacy, or he stole the parchment from someone special and hides in the forest.”

Chief Viren thought deeply to process what shaman Catori said.

“We cannot be sure if that is really the case. There is a lot that can happen that might lead to that situation, but your theory is plausible. The question is if young Alfred joins our tribe can we trust him? What the both of you think of him?”

“The only time I have a real conversation with young Alfred is when I give him the prosthetic that my late father used, my impression of him is good. I like the young man, and I think he is a good person.” Elder Ahote replied.

“Well, in the past few days I have been teaching young Alfred, and in that few days, I get to know him a little better. He is a smart, hardworking but naïve young man, I do not know if we can trust him, but I believe he does not have any ill intentions towards our tribe. My impression of him is, I do not hate the young man.” Shaman Catori replied.

Chief Viren nodded and said.

“I see, you both like young Alfred, in that case, we should convince him to join our tribe.”